Everything from "I wouldn't work for a company that wanted a PERL certification" to "Certifications only benefit the examiners" to "it would destroy PM to give a certification".

Take a valium, or at least count to ten.

Companies ask for certifications as proof that a potential employee has a minimum of skill in a particular subject. The alternatives are to test every candidate themselves ( not going to happen ) or just blindly trust a resume. Truth be known, certifications may not be an accurate measure of skill, neither is a Degree. There are plenty of people who have Degree's from Ivy League colleges who couldn't code there way out of a paper bag, and many people ( like myself ) who have only certifications, who are employed by major American businesses whose programming skills are entrusted with millions of dollars worth of transactions each month.

My second point is very simple. Have certification, get job. No certification, no job. Who benefits from certification? I was working in an upscale fast food resturant. Studied for certification ( CNE ), got a job two weeks later making 5 times more money. Who benefits from certification?

Third, Don't take money for the test or certification, just make it hard. PM would not have to go all the way to offering Nation wide testing at certified testing companies or anything like that, work on a test, have the Monks peer review the test, set it up to work online. OpenSource certification.

It's not really that big a deal, but it could help younger programmers, and programmer-wantabe's, get jobs. Sounds like a public service to me... and if we ( PM ) do it, we can do it right.

Truth be known, certifications may not be an accurate measure of skill, neither is a Degree.

You were about to make a reasonable argument, then you went down this route.

True, a Degree is no guarantee, but it at least shows a certain time spent on a subject.

A certification shows only that someone can cram for a test, get a passing test score, and write a check.

Even if you think Degrees show some hope, I can't see how you can put certifications in the same category.

Also, any "test" that is worth taking takes a lot of time and skill to develop. There's no way someone could do this testing for free: the resources it takes to develop and administer the test (like monitoring for cheating) must be recouped somehow.

You call me cynical. I call you idealistic. I call myself realistic. {grin}

A certification shows only that someone can cram for a test, get a passing test score, and write a check.

That depends. While this may be true of some programs, there are highly valued cert programs that require much more than a quick test. The incorporate work experience, college degree requirements, etc.

(Although I should add I've never been in favor of programming certs - as an employer I like flexibility in my programmers).

Went to join the gridlock to see it
Held an eclipse party
Watched a live feed
I cn"t see tge kwubosd to amswr thus
I tried to see it, but 8000 miles of rock got in the way
What eclipse?
Wanted to see it, but they wouldn't reschedule it
Read the book instead